however, and the driver managed to get down to the ground before they caught up with him. Darius watched as the cart driver bowed low, not daring to raise his eyes even slightly.
The village was surrounded by a low wall, over which the roofs of the nearest houses jutted out. It was hard to say much about them. The enclosure was interrupted by a gate, or rather a passageway barred by a palisade. Clearly, the inhabitants feared smaller monsters and wild animals more than bandits.
The party passed through the gate without any trouble. And immediately caught the attention of everyone who had come out of their homes to enjoy the evening cool. People, Sheheds and halflings stopped in their tracks, staring at the Guards with looks of sheer terror. Those closest to them scurried to the sides as quickly as possible, just so as not to block the newcomers’ path.
The main road, if it could be called that, soon branched off into several uneven streets disappearing amongst the haphazardly arranged houses. It seemed that all the buildings had been constructed in a rather interesting way – the ground floor was below ground level, and the upper floor was quite high. Darius scanned the paths leading away from the junction and halted their column. The colonel cast a brief glance at Rex, who gave a barely perceptible nod.
The corporal looked around, chose the nearest person and turned the chimera towards him.
‘You!’, he began in a voice that brooked no contradiction. ‘Where is the inn?’
The man addressed could only manage to point towards the road on the far left. The corporal quickly tossed a silver coin to the local and returned to Bleist.
‘It seems to be this way,’ he muttered, not very enthusiastically. ‘I don’t know what’s got into these people,’ he complained as soon as they set off again.
‘I reckon even the army is a rarity here.’ Darius sat proudly upright the whole time, which was rather uncomfortable for him. ‘You saw what the outpost looked like. Besides, less than forty soldiers at
